Jim Brown returning to the Cleveland Browns

Browns great Jim Brown at an announcement with Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam.(AP)

Jim Brown is returning to the front office of the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns will officially announce the legendary running back's return to the team on Wednesday. Brown has been estranged from the team since his dismissal by former Browns president Mike Holmgren in 2010. New owner Jimmy Haslam made sure to bring Brown back into the fold.

Brown's new role with the team is still unclear but previously he was a player liaison, kept an office at team headquarters and appeared at Browns games. At 77, it's doubtful Brown will return in a full-time capacity but his presence is welcome news for a franchise in need of a boost.

One of the league's historic franchises, the Browns haven't won an NFL championship since Brown's prime as a player in 1964. Since then, the team has endured playoff heartbreak and the franchise's painful exodus to Baltimore in 1995. Since reemerging as a new franchise in 1999, the Browns have been downtrodden, marked most recently by a federal investigation into owner Jimmy Haslam's Pilot Flying J company on charges of fraud.

Despite his touchy relationship with the previous Browns regime, Brown has remained active in NFL circles. He was named a board member of the Common Good Fund in March -- the $42 million contribution the NFL is paying to retired players in need in the fallout of the class action lawsuit the players won seeking compensation for the use of their images in NFL Films footage.

Brown is still active with Amer-I-Can, the non-profit organization he founded in 1988 to teach life skills to underprivileged youth.